Schiltach sits at the confluence of the Kinzig and Schiltach rivers in the heart of the Black Forest, and it is one of the best-preserved half-timbered towns in Baden-Württemberg. The Marktplatz slopes uphill, ringed by sixteenth-century fachwerk houses in various states of careful restoration, with a fine town hall at the top. The narrow lanes behind it are just as good.
The Schüttesäge Museum — a working water-powered sawmill at the river confluence — documents the timber and rafting trade that built this entire valley. A short hike above town reaches the Willenburg, a ruined hilltop castle with views over the valley. North of town, buried in the hills, the Black Forest Observatory is one of the world's most sensitive geophysical listening stations.
Hiking trails fan out into the surrounding hills, and the drives through the valley are excellent. The nearby villages are worth combining into a day or two: Alpirsbach has a handsome Benedictine monastery church, Gutach has a good open-air museum, and the Wittichen Abbey in the Kleine Kinzig valley is a beautifully isolated medieval foundation worth seeking out.